Ah yes.. the “resort fee.” 🙄

My husband and I recently snuck away for a wonderful week-end at one of our favorite Marriott hotels. Luckily, because he’s a super-dee-dooper-titanium level member, we did not have to pay the whopping $36/day resort fee.

$36 a day..can you believe that? And no, that does not include parking.

I can’t remember which came first, all of the silly airline fees or the crazy hotel add ons. Yesterday’s WSJ reported that the District of Columbia is going after Marriott for deceptive advertising in their efforts to hide these fees from consumers. Other chains are also in the crosshairs as all fifty states are pursuing action against hotels that sneakily charge extra for the things that we never previously had to “pay” for, you know like:

towels..

the telephone..

the in-room coffee maker that I would NEVER use..

and the gym I keep swearing I will, but never have, used.

One of the reasons so many hotels have gone the extra fee route has to do with how consumers are booking their stays-many through online, third parties. Sites like expedia.com make a commission on each booking but resort fees have traditionally been exempt from those calculations. Fees have been the perfect way to increase the price of a room without having to share that additional profit with online travel sites. Booking.com though has recently given notice that they are going to start charging commission on those fees as well.

So yeah, that can only mean one thing for travelers..we’re soon going to be looking back at the $36 resort fees as the “good ol’ days. I guess everyone wants a piece of the fee-pie.

How soon I wonder before restaurants start charging extra for a table near the window? Of course if hotels keep adding up the fees, we won’t have enough money to eat out anyway..

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